Laminated brassiere wing

ABSTRACT

A brassiere is made by attaching prefabricated wings provided with back closures to front parts of the brassiere. The wings are laminated with at least two layers of fabric and may have cushion layers between the fabric layers, without stitched seams.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation-in-part application of our copendingapplication Ser. No. 10/978,238 filed 29 Oct. 2004.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Our present invention relates to a brassiere and, more particularly, toa brassiere with laminated back wings which may be an integral part ofthe brassiere or may be marketed separately and assembled with brassierecups to form the brassiere. The invention also relates to a method ofmaking a brassiere and to an improved method of providing adjustableclosures for the back of the brassiere.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In a back-closure brassiere, the back of the brassiere structure isconventionally formed by a pair of wings, one of which can be providedwith at least one male closure member while the other is provided withat least one female closure member cooperating with the male closuremember. The male closure member can be, for example, a metal hook whilethe female closure member can be an eye.

More recently, it has been proposed to provide closure members which areequivalent to hook and eye fasteners but are fabricated from plastic,e.g. by injection molding the fastener members onto tapes which arestitched or bonded otherwise to the fabric of the wings forming the backof the brassiere. Reference may be had to U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,321,419 and6,557,232 in that regard. A unique property of the plastic fastenersthere described is that they also have a push-button function, i.e. themale member can be snapped into the female member by the application ofpressure, in addition to being engageable with it in a sliding hook andeye function.

Generally the fabric wings of a brassiere are somewhat elastic forcomfort and for that purpose are composed of elastic fabric. The strapscarrying the fastener can be applied by stitching, in which case thewings of the brassiere may have several stitched seams. Stitched seams,however, are not always comfortable and in some cases may prove to be anirritant to the wearer.

Mention should also be made of the fact that any fastener member appliedto the fabric of a brassiere wing in the past has projected from thesurface of the fabric to an extent that it also could prove to be anannoyance to the wearer.

Finally it should be noted that the wings forming the back of abrassiere frequently are anchor points for shoulder straps of thebrassiere. In the past the location of the anchor point for the shoulderstrap along the brassiere has not generally been adjustable and it hasalso not generally been possible to select the manner in which theshoulder strap is secured at the anchor point. In short, the versatilityof a brassiere with respect to adjustment of shoulder straps to thewings forming the back of the brassiere has left much to be desired.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is, therefore, the principal object of the present invention toprovide an improved brassiere and particularly an improved wingconstruction for a brassiere whereby the aforementioned drawbacks areavoided.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a brassiere withan improved back wing construction which is more comfortable, moreversatile and more easily fabricated than earlier brassieres.

Another object of this invention is to provide for increased comfort ofplastic snap-button hook and eye fasteners for the back wing of abrassiere.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved method ofmaking a brassiere.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a brassiere of greaterversatility with respect to shoulder strap attachments.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved male fastenersystem for the brassiere wings of the aforementioned application whichtends to resist the bending of the outer flap away from the inner flapwhen the back fasteners are engaged.

It is also an object of this invention to provide an improved sandwichsystem D-ring, particularly for the improved brassiere of the priorapplication but also for any lingerie applications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These objects are attained, in accordance with the invention byproviding brassiere wings which form the back of a brassiere and can beattached to the cups which form the front of the brassiere and which areof a laminated construction, i.e. are formed by at least two layers ofan elastic fabric sandwiching between them a layer of a cushioningmaterial, e.g. a fabric such as a so-called distance knit which, in thelaminate, provides a certain degree of compressibility in a directionperpendicular to the fabric plane.

When we refer to a laminate here, we mean that the fabric layers arebonded together without the formation of a seam, e.g. by thermal bondingor welding or by the use of adhesive such as a hot melt adhesive atselective locations or even by less preferred methods utilizing bondingfoils or films between the layers. Each wing as thus formed can becompletely free from any stitching seam and the wing closures notprovided with a continuous bonding film, can remain permeable to air orbreathable. Where the cushion layer extends over the full area of thewing, it should also be elastic, although it is preferably nonelasticwhere it is provided only in regions in which the fasteners aredisposed.

According to the invention the male and female fasteners of the combinedsnap and hook and eye type are applied directly to the laminated wingand likewise form a sandwich structure with one part lying on onesurface of the wing and another part lying on the opposite surface ofthe wing but welded to the first part through the laminate so that thelaminate is in turn sandwiched between the two fastener parts. Because acushion layer is provided, as has been described, the fastener ispressed into the laminate and is in part reset therein to prevent thatfastener from pressing against the skin of the wearer and contributingto wearer discomfort. It will be clear that the fasteners are provideddirectly on the wings and thus are not initially provided on a strapwhich must be secured to the wing. They indeed may even be injectionmolded directly on the wing if desired.

In accordance with the principles of this invention, at least one of thefastener halves, e.g. the male or female fastener half and preferablythe female fastener half may be provided in at least one row on therespective wings so that a degree of adjustability is provided when thewings are connected together with those fasteners.

In accordance with a feature of the invention, a plurality ofbutton-type fasteners may be provided in a row along an upper edge ofthe wing for selective engagement by a button on a shoulder strap,thereby providing a degree of adjustability for connection of theshoulder strap to that wing. One or more D-rings may be connected toeach wing as well, also by having the support for the D-ring engage thelaminate in a sandwich construction for use when a D-ring attachment ofthe shoulder strap is desired.

With respect to the method of fabrication, while the wings may be partof the brassiere structure originally and can have the fasteners thenapplied thereto, we can make the wings themselves, apart from thebrassiere as a whole, apply the fasteners to them and deliver thecompleted wings to a brassiere manufacturer who can been join theprefabricated wing with the cup to produce the brassiere.

While the button fasteners which were used in the system originallydescribed in the aforementioned application, namely, the button-typefasteners of U.S. Pat. No. 6,557,232 have been found to be highlysuccessful, we have noted that the overlying flap when the wings areconnected together, may have a tendency to stand away from the back ofthe wearer. We have now found that we are able to counteract thattendency by providing the fastener on the outer flap with a bar-shapedextension which appears to obviate that tendency and indeed can allowthe outer fastener member to be made somewhat thinner and thus reducethe overall thickness of the interconnected back wings.

With respect to the attachment of the strap to the wings, we havediscovered that it is advantageous to provide D-rings in a sandwichstructure with a loop which can be opened and closed to allow insertionof the brassiere strap and its retention without operations involvingthreading of an end through the D-ring.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The above and other objects, features, and advantages will become morereadily apparent from the following description, reference being made tothe accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view in highly diagrammatic form of a brassiereprovided with the wings of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the wings prior to attachment to abrassiere front to form the brassiere of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 illustrating a second embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view through one of the female fastenersshowing the sandwiching of the laminate between the members thereof;

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of a male fastener member;

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view through the D-ring fastener of FIG. 3taken along the line VI-VI;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to that of FIGS. 2 and 3 but illustrating anembodiment in which there is a combination of inelastic and elasticcushions in each wing;

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic cross section taken along the line VII-VII ofFIG. 7 showing the lamination along the edges of a wing in which the twolayers of fabric are laminated together without a cushion therebetween;

FIG. 9 is an elevational view showing two wings connected together withan improved outer fastener member on the outer wing;

FIG. 10 is an illustration of the outer fastener member in anelevational view;

FIG. 11 is a view of a sandwich system D-ring in its open position;

FIG. 12 is an elevation view of the same D-ring in the closed position;

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a locking arrangement for the D-ringof FIGS. 11 and 12; and

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating another locking arrangement accordingto the invention.

SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION

In FIG. 1 we have shown a brassiere 10 which is formed from a brassierefront 11 having a pair of brassiere cups 12 and 13 connected by a centerpiece 14. To this brassiere front, respective wings 15 and 16 can beconnected by stitching along edges of those wings remote from theirrespective fasteners. The brassiere is completed by a pair of shoulderstraps 17 and 18 which are shown to engage in D-rings 19 and 20 at thecups 12 and 13, respectively and to have adjustment buckles 21 and 22 asis conventional.

At the back of the brassiere, formed by the wings 15 and 16, the straps17 and 18 engage in D-ring fasteners which will be described in greaterdetail in connection with FIG. 2.

As can be seen from FIG. 2, the wings 15 and 16 are originallyfabricated separate from the front of the brassiere and have edges 23and 24 which can be stitched to the edges of the brassiere front at therespective cups. The attachment to the brassiere front may be made bythe brassiere manufacturer and the wings can be supplied asprefabricated units to the manufacturer.

As is also apparent from FIG. 2, the wing 15 may have a pair of malefasteners 25 of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,557,232, i.e.having a member 26 (FIG. 5) adapted to be disposed on one side of thewing, say the inside, and a member 27 adapted to be disposed on theoutside is bridged by a portion 28 traversing the fabric of the wing andallowing the two members to be welded together. The pin 29 on the member27 forms the male formation engageable in a snap fit or hook and eyeconnection in a corresponding female fastener such as the fastener 30shown in FIG. 2.

The members 26 and 27 thus sandwich the laminate formed by the wing 15between them.

As can be seen from FIG. 4 which shows a section through a wing 24, eachwing may comprise an elastic fabric layer 31 and an elastic fabric layer32 between which a cushion layer 33 can be located. Thus the cushionlayer 33 is also sandwiched between the elastic fabric layers 31 and 32.In FIG. 2, the cushions 34 and 35 formed by the layer 33 are providedonly in the regions of the fasteners 25 and 30. In this case, thecushions can be inelastic. In the laminates forming the wings 36 and 37of FIG. 3, the cushions 38 and 39 extend substantially over the entirearea of the wings.

As can be seen from FIG. 4 as well, each of the female members 30, tworows of which are provided in the embodiment of FIG. 2, has members 40and 41 on opposite sides of the laminate and welded through them. Thecushions are yieldable perpendicular to the planes of the laminate sothat in practice, the members 40 and 26 which may lie against the skinof the wearer can be somewhat indented into the respective laminate sothat the brassiere does not apply pressure at these points against thewearer.

From FIG. 2 it will also be apparent that the wings 15 and 16 arecompletely free from stitched seams which can cause irritation to thewearer.

The wings can each also have a row of snap fasteners 42, 43, 44 at whichsnaps 45 on a shoulder strap 46 can selectively engage. Alternativelythe D-ring fastener 47 can engage a shoulder strip 48. The D-ring 47 canhave its shields 49, 50 welded together through the laminate 51 by pinsor spikes 52 on the shields which pierce the laminate (see FIG. 6). Tolaminate the fabric layers to each other and the cushion layer, hot meltadhesive spots may be applied between the layers and then they can bepressed together with heating to produce a seam-free bond.

In the embodiment of FIG. 7, the wings 50 and 51 are each characterizedby the fact that the spacing of the cushions 52, 53, 54 and 55 from theouter edges 56 and 57 of the wings is at least 2 to 5 mm, therebyleaving regions such as have been shown at 58 and 59 in FIG. 8,outwardly of a cushion, e. g. 55, two layers of fabric 60 and 61 arelaminated together without a stitch seam and without a cushion betweenthem. This makes the edge of the wing extra soft and flexible. The cutsthrough the material forming the edges 56 and 57 all around each wingare made by knife cutting rather than ultrasonic cutting to retain thesoft and flexible hand. Ultrasonic cuts tend to make the edges sharp andhard because of the melting of the material.

Naturally, in accordance with the invention, the wings may be laminatedfrom two layers of elastic fabric without any cushion between them ifdesired.

The embodiment of FIG. 7 is also distinguishable from that of FIGS. 2and 3 in that it combines a cushion-form elastic 52, 55 sandwichedbetween the two fabric layers 60, 61 and inelastic cushions 53 and 54located in the regions of the female fasteners 62 and the male fasteners63 as have been described.

In FIG. 9 we have shown two wings 70 and 71 with respectivesandwich-type D-rings 72 and 73 which are secured to the fabric 74, 75of the wings and provided respectively with the female button fasteners76 and the male button fasteners 77. In order to prevent the liftingedge 78 of the flap 79 which is outermost when the wings of thebrassiere are connected together across the back of the wearer, theouter or mail button fastener members 77 are formed in one piece with abar 79 which is extended by a certain distance d (FIG. 10) rearwardly ofthe fastener portion 80. We have found that even a small extensionrearwardly of a bar affixed to the male button portion 80 will keep thefront edge 78 from turning away from the bottom flap.

As can be seen from FIGS. 11-14, the D-rings used in the variousembodiments can be of the sandwich type, i.e. can have identical shields90 on opposite sides of the fabric 91 and welded together through thefabric, e.g. with pins on the shields 90 penetrating through the fabricto the shield on the opposite side. The D-ring 92 can be openable, i.e.can have a male formation 93 engageable in a female formation 94. InFIG. 11 the D-ring is shown in its open position whereas it is closed inFIG. 12. To enable the male formation 93 to engage in the femaleformation 94, the female formation can have a hole 95 showing laterallyand into which a boss 96 of the male formation 93 can snap. To open theD-ring, which is molded in one piece of synthetic resin material, forexample polyoxymethylene, the parts 95 and 96 are laterally pulledapart. The strap (not shown in FIGS. 11 and 12) can then be insertedthrough the gap between the male formation 93 and the female formation94.

Alternatively, the cylindrical head 93′ forming the male formation canbe snapped into the crescent-shaped seat 95′ forming the femaleformation. Other locking systems can be used to secure the D-ring in itsclosed position.

1. A brassiere comprising a pair of brassiere cups forming a front ofthe brassiere and a pair of wings connected to said cups and forming aback of said brassiere, an inwardly lying one of said wings beingprovided adjacent a free end thereof with at least one first fastenermember, the other of said wings lying outwardly of said one of saidwings and having at least one second fastener member engageable withsaid first fastener member adjacent a free end of said other wing, and abar formed on said second fastener member extending longitudinally ofsaid other wing and limiting lifting of said other wing away from saidfirst wing when said wings are connected together by said fastenermembers across a back of a wearer.
 2. The brassiere defined in claim 1wherein said first fastener member is a circular press-button eye-typefemale fastener member and said other fastener member has a circularpress-button side facing said first wing and a projection engageable insaid female fastener member with a hook-in-eye action, said bar beingprovided on an opposite side of said other wing from said circularpress-button side.
 3. The brassiere defined in claim 2 wherein saidfirst fastener member is one of a row of spaced-apart first fastenermembers provided on said one of said wings.
 4. The brassiere defined inclaim 3 wherein said first fastener member is one of two parallel rowsof spaced-apart first fastener members provided on said one of saidwings, said other of said wings having two of said second members eachengageable with a first member of a respective row.
 5. The brassieredefined in claim 1 wherein each of said wings is provided with a D-ringengageable with a respective shoulder strap.
 6. The brassiere defined inclaim 5 wherein each D-ring is openable to receive the respective strap.7. The brassiere defined in claim 6 wherein each D-ring includes arespective loop having an end provided with a formation detachablyengageable with another formation to lock the D-ring closed.
 8. Thebrassiere defined in claim 7 wherein said formation on the end of eachloop is a male formation and is engageable in a female formation.
 9. Thebrassiere defined in claim 8 wherein each D-ring is injection molded ofsynthetic resin in one piece.
 10. The brassiere defined in claim 1wherein said wings are fabricated with the respective fastener memberand are then attached to said front of said brassiere.
 11. A D-ringfastener for engagement with a strap and injection molded in one piecewith a pair of shields forming a base and adapted to straddle a fabricto which the fastener is to be attached, and a D-ring on said base,openable to receive a respective strap.
 12. A D-ring fastener defined inclaim 11 wherein each D-ring includes a respective loop having one endfixed to said base and another end provided with a formation detachablyengageable with another formation on said base to lock the D-ringclosed.
 13. A D-ring fastener defined in claim 12 wherein said formationon said loop is a male formation and is engageable in a female formationon said base.
 14. A D-ring fastener defined in claim 13 wherein theD-ring fastener is formed from polyoxymethylene.